My Idol Dream

Chapter 4

The next morning, Yn stood with her mouth open wondering if she had to do the same thing every day since Jungkook had woken her up again at 6am to go for another run. As they stood in front of the building and Jungkook was already hopping from foot to foot, he held out a card on his cell phone for Yn to see. „That's us." He pointed to a spot and she nodded.

„If we run, we'll go here" He pointed to two corners she couldn't remember but which had marked the points of return for him „Now we'll walk here" Jungkook pointed to a final street a block down from there , where they had made it until yesterday „Less time," he said firmly.

She nodded and put down her phone and they headed back down the dark and quiet streets.

In the studios, there was first a kind of hair and make-up test. If anything, the boys were even less talkative than yesterday's little seamstress. The stylists used her arms and neck to apply makeup samples and dragged her hair around, up and down, until it was so full of air and spray it almost stood up on its own.

Then Yn was made up, photographed with and without a ponytail. They had used 100 products to make her look natural and although her face had felt shabby, Yn decided she would have an easier time standing in front of the mirrors that seemed to be in every room of this building if she were professional looked styled.

Hobi, as he told her he likes to be called, was waiting for Yn in the first big rehearsal room she was in. He clasped both of her hands and bowed as if meeting her for the first time. More than anyone else, it was very easy to like him right away. He was always smiling, and she knew he liked to make others happy. Hobi was also generally considered one of the best dancers, and certainly the best at learning the dances. It seemed to be his gift and his curse, because now he had landed with her. Rapping was one thing.

Some of the members didn't rap at all. And so it made sense that if she couldn't, then she wouldn't either. But dancing was pretty much inevitable when it came to BTS or even K-pop. Either way, in just 12 months time, she would be dancing and poor Hobi would have to teach her.

Hobi pointed to the tables that lined the walls, where a variety of drinks and snacks had been stocked for what seemed like forever. Yn chose a can of iced coffee and sat down across from him. He started speaking through Nina „I think you were a little unhappy last night? I think you might be very worried about the rapping and the dancing." He phrased it a little like a question. Yn was relieved that he didn't want to see her best dance performance right away. She puffed out her cheeks and let out a shaky breath.

„I'm a little worried about the dancing. I don't think it really occurred to me until I got here how much I have to learn. Which is stupid because you're all so talented, and it was stupid to think that I could just pick it up like that. I already have dance experience, but you can't compare that in the least with yours." He smiled at her. „You don't need to worry. The spectators don't care if we do hard dances or easy dances, as long as they're good dances. And they come to see Jimin and Kookie dance. But I don't think you'll be very, very bad at it." „Maybe not very bad." She smiled at him, trying to show him that he'd improved her mood.

„I think," he said, standing, "we're going to start teaching you a dance that we dance. I already know which one" Hobi continued in Korean through Nina „So we have a starting point that we can always fall back on. I would like to see how long it takes you to learn the choreography of a whole song" Yn nodded obediently „Okay" he smiled „And we have to get you used to dancing on stage but I haven't really decided yet how to do that, so let's do that another time" He motioned for her to get up and used both hands to pull Yn to the mirrored wall where he positioned himself next to her. In a show of solidarity, Nina got up and went to her other side. 

„You can't do it worse than me," Nina said, grinning. Hobi began a two-step move that he repeated over and over. Yn and Nina watched carefully, absorbing his flowing praise. Over the next few hours, one iced coffee turned into three, and the two-step into a thirty-second sequence that turned out to be the chorus of Dynamite

„I'm very pleased," Hobi replied, tossing Yn a water bottle and allowing Yn to lean against a table. At a knock, lunch was brought to them in three plastic bags. Yn then realized that her life would be very rice based from now on „Thank you for being so patient with me" Yn told him while they ate and tried to master the art of pickup rice with chopsticks „Please do yourself Don't worry, I like doing this even if it's going to be difficult, but I'm not giving up. And I know how lucky I am. I'll work really hard for you to make us all better." Hobi had made her feel so comfortable that she was determined to push herself to show him she was serious. „Thank you."

„You're welcome," he replied, mouth full. „But it's a very difficult thing you do, going away from home and working on something you've never done before. Your home, friends and family are all very far away." „The truth is, there isn't much to talk about life over there. I don't think I would have decided to do this so quickly otherwise. I'm happy to do something different. I just don't want to let anyone down." She looked up at him. „That's how we feel before every show." He nodded knowingly. Yn smiled and they both finished the rest of their meal in silence.

Next up was her first session at the in-house gym with Jungkook. She had been told that she would have regular sessions with personal trainers, but as with all other new activities, one of the guys would guide her so Yn could adjust to her lifestyle.

So that afternoon, Nina sat at the end of a weight bench and watched Jungkook first encourage and then torture Yn. She wasn't expecting a Hobi-style introduction and encouragement, as that hadn't been his style on her runs before, but Yn was shocked at how much he pushed himself and her in their very first training session.

And Jungkook was a maniac! He didn't want to talk her into fitness or talk her into a nice body. No, he wanted to yell at her thighs, wrestle with her stomach, and kick her ass until she resembled a shape he liked. In an effort not to go soft, Yn obediently pushed past places where she thought she could walk until her arms trembled as Yn attempted to lift weights and her body was ripped off by his pain instruments. She was breathing heavily, sweating, and panting for the first twenty minutes and then remained in a constant state of near collapse.

Jungkook didn't want to talk to her either. He just showed her what to do and then he stood there and said, „Yes, no, again, again." He repositioned her arms, legs, shoulders, and back and, in deference to her condition, occasionally gave her a water bottle or a towel.

After an hour and a half, Nina demanded a break and Jungkook said after that it would only walk for an hour and spend that on the treadmill. The youngest of the boys told Nina, not Yn, and she gave the impression that this was a sensible cool down rather than more exercise.

Nor did he stay to see if she would complete the program she would undertake under Nina. When the hour was mercifully up, the brunette sank like a boneless sack of lead into one of the seated exercise machines, letting a few sobs escape.

„Oh Yn." Nina said, gesturing closer to wrap her arm around her very sweaty body „I'm fine," she replied, shaking away the sobs and gulping air „I didn't think he was going to be that hard me." „No," Nina murmured in agreement, her eyes shifting to the door that Jungkook had let through. „That was unexpected." Yn couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

Ever since she'd arrived, she'd sensed a kind of disdain from him. Jungkook certainly wasn't the chair of the welcoming committee, but today he came very close to open hostility. Now she knew that he didn't want her here and that he found something about her particularly offensive.

Yn had spent the weeks looking through all the footage of BTS that the internet had to offer. Yn felt she got to know all the boys a little bit from what she had seen and read.

She was disappointed, firstly because Jungkook usually seemed so happy with most people but not with her.

Yn was wrong. He didn't want to be her boyfriend, but he wanted to help her get in shape.

„He's just trying to do his job right" Yn closed her eyes and let her head hang almost to her knees „Yes" Nina agreed to Yn „Come on" she said after a minute and helped Yn to her feet „Let's bring you home"